‘I try to only take it twice a week – I’d have a breakdown if I took it every day’: Why are so many women taking brain boosting pills at work and risking their health and sanity?

The phone on Jess Robinson’s desk flashes incessantly as a queue of ten stressed staff wait impatiently for her advice. As an IT analyst at a 1,000-strong company, Jess spends her working days rushing from one complex problem to another. And yet she manages her workload seamlessly, moving calmly from one crisis to the next while keeping a smile on her face. She’s impressively competent — but that’s not solely down to her commitment and skill. Jess, 30, admits she owes much of her unflappable attitude to something rather unexpected: an innocuous white pill. She swallows it before reaching her London office, and it enables her to stay on top of the day’s issues. The tablet Jess takes is called modafinil — a medication licensed for patients with the sleep disorder narcolepsy, but which is increasingly being bought online, without a doctor’s prescription, to improve focus and concentration. Modafinil is the most popular of a new breed of ‘smart drugs’ said to aid brain function. Studies reveal around one in 12 adults have taken smart drugs. Jess Robinson (pictured), 30, began taking modafinil two years into working as an IT analyst at a 1,000-strong company to help her stay on top of each day’s issues Studies reveal around one in 12 adults have taken smart drugs. Jess Robinson (pictured), 30, began taking modafinil two years into working as an IT analyst at a 1,000-strong company to help her stay on top of each day’s issues Taken by students desperate to boost their exam results, these prescription pills have now attracted the attention of growing numbers of high-flying professionals hoping to gain a competitive edge and apparently careless of the risks of taking a drug they don’t need without medical supervision. You may never have heard of modafinil or other […]

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